Gray Saturday Morning

Saturday, 19 November 2016, and another work day. Mr. Nelson's upset this morning. He likes to go downstairs (the basement) of the Mennonite house and snooze all day up in the top shelf of my storage area.

He can't do it today, as we're having Tulio (Arrest-A-Pest) come spray the Mennonite house inside, upstairs and downstairs. Nelson is just impossible to coax out from down in the basement, so it's a lot easier to keep him out in the first place.

There is some consolation however. In the new house, he's discovered his alternate hideaway. It's in the laundry/utility room off the kitchen. We keep the laundry basket up on a shelf by the window. He likes to sleep in the basket. That way he can keep an eye on the outside as well as the utility room and kitchen. Not as good as the basement, but it'll do.

Grouting the Tile

This morning, the grouting of the little tiles in the pool began. It's going fast too. Really makes the blue tiles spring to life.

The Top of the Waterfall

Not permanently in place yet, but the top of the waterfall will have pieces of stone tile covering it at an angle. The water will come between it and the vertical tiles.

Trial Run With A Hose

You can't really tell from the photo, but our first trial run of the waterfall was by hose, just to see if the water would cascade down the face of the waterfall. It did, and it looked and sounded very nice.

The successful test gives us the green light to go ahead with our ideas for the waterfall as they have been.

Pump Rigged For A Test

Bani rigged up the waterfall pump (a half-horse number) with flexible vinyl tubing to try it out by actually using the pump to provide the water for the falls.

After the pump was primed, water was drawn from a bucket and up and out at the waterfall head.

Cutting Concrete Casting Sprue

Theo is using a grinding tool to cut out casting sprue of concrete from where concrete oozed out during the casting process.

Bani Priming the Pump

I mentioned priming the pump, here Bani is doing just that. With luck, the next time we have to prime it, is if the pump needs to be taken out for repairs.

?? Cutting Slot in Waterfall Pipe

Theo is cutting a slit in the water pipe at the head of the waterfall. Mario is keeping a close eye on the proceedings.

Inspecting the Cut

Mario checking the cut. He came up with a good idea about having a small light over head, possibly attached to one of the beams, with its focus on the waterfall. Maybe have one with a multi-colored light that changes colors periodically.

Happiness. It Works!

Theo is very happy that the waterfall is working just the way that we thought and hoped it would.

Water Actually Cascading

You have to look closely, but there is water and it's cascading down the rocks just the way we thought and hoped it would.

Dianna and Mario Talking Waterfall

Dianna and Mario at the far end of the pool talking over the pool and the waterfall.

The Day After Monday

That would make today Tuesday, 25 October, 2016. Just think, only thirteen and a wake-up, as we used to say in the military. That's enough on that topic.

I talked to Mario this morning about having the pool pump and the waterfall pump raised up about knee-high in the pump house, so that they will be easier for me to work on them, replacing bearing kits, or O-rings, etc.

He reminded me that to maintain the prime, each of those pumps have to be slightly below the water level of the pool. Oops. I had completely forgotten that basic fact. Oh, well. Pumps get to stay down low. The valve manifold will be elevated for ease of operation and ease of repair should the need arise.

I also talked to Mario about getting Bani, his electrician to sort out the wiring for the Mennonite house so that the Mennonite house and the laundry room are on one circuit and one meter. The rest of the downstairs (the basement) and the pool house, pool and well will all be on the other meter and circuit.

Part of this project will also be to get the gate doorbell to work again, so we can use our new WiFi doorbell, Ring.com (https://ring.com). Actually, the old doorbell doesn't need to work. What needs to work is the current. There needs to be 12-VDC to the doorbell for the new one to work. It's wireless in operation, but it needs the 12-VDC to power the device. There is a rechargeable battery version, but I wanted to go with the powered one.

Right now we only have one meter. Luckily, I checked the other day, since I'm an old fart now and have a Golden Citizen Social Security card, about the discount available on the electric bill. Yes, there is a discount of up to $18.00 BZD per month, but only a certain number of accounts get it each year. Kind of a lottery sort of thing, and the available slots are closed for this year. We'll be in the running for next year. That's not a big thing for us.

What is a big thing, is this. With my Golden Citizen Social Security card, if we want to get a second meter, there is no charge for that from BEL. Since we're looking to split the buildings into two metered accounts, that is just perfect for us. I will be taking advantage of that as soon as Bani gets the circuits squared away. Something to keep in mind.

So, today's workday follows. We had a fairly good amount of rain last night. So far, today is the usual gorgeous Corozal morning.

Polyducto Creeping Around

A new run of polyducto this morning going from the pump house to the utility room to provide power for the pump timer. It's getting close to the deadline for running water and current as the deck and ramps are scheduled to be cast sometime this coming week.

Plastering Guides Up on Beam

If you're wondering what the wood strips fastened to the edges of the beam are for, why they're plastering guides. They're set to extend about 1/4" to 1/2" beyond the edge of the beam. Then plaster is applied and smoothed to the height of the guides. Once that side is dried, then the same thing is done with the next side till all four sides are done.

Timer Box Being Installed

I mentioned the timer box. Well, here it is. No wire yet, but as you could see with the polyducto, it's on it's way.

Plastering Unifies the Beam

You can see from this before (left) and after (right) that the plastering really does smooth things out and helps unify the whole thing.

Bani Running Wiring to Timer

Working in the somewhat confining quarters of the utility room, Bani is running wires to the timer. It's a challenge as he's running six wires in a very narrow surface wiring channel.